TVSquad

I should point out that when I say "coming back this summer" in the headline I mean that ABC is bringing them back to burn off the remaining episodes that haven't aired yet. That's right, six months from now is the earliest you'll see any of these shows return. They could even come back later.

Pushing Daisies has three episodes left, while Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money each have four. Fans of these shows might not like this, but the truth is, the shows that have been in the time slots for these shows have actually done better in the ratings.

It looks like Bryan Fuller feels bad for the cast of Pushing Daisies, so now that he's returning to Heroes later this year, he's decided to start bringing them with him. First up, Swoosie Kurtz will be appearing in an episode in April written by Fuller himself. No word on whether the eye patch will be joining her. Considering the generational dynamic established on the show, Kurtz is a great casting choice. Her role will be that of an old society friend of Angela Petrelli. There's already a similarity to Kurtz' character on Daisies and the way Cristine Rose plays Ma Petrelli.

While casting isn't usually a huge deal by itself, with the way Heroes has been received this past year, any move on the beleaguered show is being scrutinized. People are cautiously optimistic that Fuller can reinvigorate the show, though why those people weren't watching Daisies if they loved him so much I'll never know. And with a cast as huge as this, any addition is also scrutinized. Of course, for now this is a one-episode appearance, but Fuller has indicated it's being written in such a way that she could return.

(S02E10) "Chuck's father is alive?" - Olive

I'm sad. Even if, contrary to what I reported a few weeks back, Pushing Daisies' final episode ever - episode 2.13 - will offer some closure to most characters thanks to last minute editing and retooling, I'm sad as "The Norwegians" could very well have been the last episode we will see of the series on a TV screen. ABC claims it plans to air the final three hours as a block sometime in the near future but fans know networks can change their mind rather quickly, especially when money talks. Will ABC live up to its promise? Will they put the episodes online? Or, worse, will we have to wait months and months to watch them on DVD?

No matter the answers to these questions, we should cherish "The Norwegians" as we don't know when we will see our favorite pie maker and his crew next. One thing is for sure, the episode gave us a lot of action and left us saying "WTF?" and "OMG!"

(S02E09) "We're so together electrons couldn't get between us." - Chuck to Ned on the roof

Is it all right for me to say right up front that I don't like Charles Charles? Bear in mind, I'm not one of the "I want Ned and Chuck to wind up together" crowd. I'm with Olive; I want Ned to realize that Olive is the girl for him, but I digress.

The point remains that my blood was really boiling as I watched Mr. Charles threatening Ned, warning him to never see Chuck again, and even going after Ned physically -- with a broom! For a dead guy, the swaddled Mr. Charles sure is a pushy S.O.B.

(S02E04) "Where are you living anyway?" - Ned to Emerson

Did you realize that this week's Pushing Daisies episode is actually only the 13th installment of the refreshing series? I forgot about it for a second or two when I told myself "About time!" after realizing that "Frescorts" was going to offer us some Emerson backstory. I guess the almost-nine-months hiatus, thanks to the writers' strike, made us long for more details about the show's characters. In any case, let me say this: Yay for some Emerson backstory!

Joss Whedon fans, take note ... you may have competition from the fans of ABC's Pushing Daises. That's the way it seemed at their Comic-Con panel on Saturday afternoon. They were so loud and applauded so frequently that it made an audience of Whedon fans seem like a group of cloistered monks taking a vow of silence.

But, that really isn't surprising since the show (whose first season comes out on standard DVD and Blu-Ray on September 16th) has such a wealth of talent both on and off screen. The audience at the Pushing Daises panel had an opportunity to see all that talent in one place as the entire cast joined creator Bryan Fuller and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld in answering questions about season two. The tantalizing morsels appear after the jump.

ABC's hit show Pushing Daisies will host a pie-eating contest at the Orange County Fair. The contest will run for thirteen straight evenings. Each night, ten contestants will don a "Pie Hole" themed bib and compete for a special prize. No word on what the prize is or better yet, what kind of pie they'll have to eat. Also, on the first night of the contest, cast members Field Cate (Young Ned) and Sammi Hanratty (Young Chuck) will be on hand to sign autographs.

This is a cute marketing idea. A good ole fashioned food-eating contest is always a hit. However, I wish they would have gotten some bigger cast members to make an appearance. The kids are cute, but even I'd take a trip to Orange County to watch people stuff themselves for Lee Pace (*swoon*).

If you live in Orange County or are planning to visit in the near future, the dates and specific locations for the contest are after the jump.

The Saturn Award nominations are in, and many popular sci-fi and fantasy shows made the cut. Returning favorites like Lost, Heroes, and Dexter were recognized by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, as were newcomers Pushing Daisies and Journeyman.

With seven nominations, Lost is ahead of Dexter and Heroes, which received five and four nominations, respectively. Heroes was the big winner last year, taking home awards for Best Network Series as well as acting awards for Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere. Both actors received nominations this year, along with co-star Greg Grunberg.

This feels weird. Normally, there is a good bit of excitement around the nominees of the Golden Globes, particularly since it's the first big award ceremony of the year and a precursor to the Academy and Emmy awards. However, with the WGA strike in full swing, and the awards ceremony stripped down to a simple one-hour press conference televised by NBC, it all seems a bit anti-climatic.

But, taking a page from my heroes Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I shall press on in true television reporting style and present my prediction for winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy.

(S01E09) "There is an unpleasant chill in the air." - The Narrator

And we have arrived: this week's episode was the last completed-before-the-strike episode of ABC's Pushing Daisies. The quote I put under the picture may not have been the most important one said in the episode (the bombshell quote is a tad too shocking to put up front) but it does highlight the mood and tone of the episode: chilly. "Corpsicle" is not my favorite Pushing Daisies episode but it offered good reveals, some fantastic lines from Emerson and Olive, and it finally gave the aunts (at least one of them) a real purpose in the series.

(S01E08) "Am I your boyfriend?" - Ned
"Yes." - Chuck

It was announced about two months ago that Molly Shannon would guest star on ABC's Pushing Daisies and the day, err... evening, has come. I've read a lot of comments from fans saying that they were somewhat scared after hearing she would guest star mostly because they thought her acting wasn't good enough for the show. In retrospect, her acting wasn't that great but it wasn't that bad either since Daisies is over the top at times.

(S01E07) "The mere smell of it made him feel, if only for an hour, exactly like he wanted to feel: safe and warm and loved, which is why he became the pie maker." - Narrator

ABC lost a good and fun opportunity to offer Pushing Daisies viewers a chance to get up close and really personal with the show and maybe attract new people who would have been interested in a scratch 'n' sniff event! Yes, it would have been pretty much a copy of what NBC did last year with My Name Is Earl, but having a scratch 'n' sniff card to use throughout this olfactory episode would have been just as magical as the episode itself! Okay, maybe the smell of the sock and the sewer would have been terrible but it would have been interesting to smell Ned, Emerson, and "honey and death" (aka Chuck). Okay, maybe that would have been a bad idea. Let's move on to the episode instead.

(S01E06) Up until now, we've only seen Emerson as a gruff P.I. whose role was to throw a sprinkle of cynicism on the decidedly sprightly environment around the Pie Hole. But you knew that eventually we were going to either find out more about his past or see him get involved with one of the people he was investigating. Tonight we got the latter. And his dalliance did a nice job of throwing some needed darkness into what was an overly-sweet episode.